This invention relates to a video apparatus that reads moving image information recorded on a recording medium, creates thumbnail image information representing a list of the contents of the image information, and displays thumbnails indicated by the thumbnail image information.
In recent years, light, small-size storage media having a large amount of memory capacity have been offered for practical use. In particular, readily attachable/detachable storage media, such as magnetooptical (MO) disks and high capacity disks such as those sold under the trademark ZIP, as well as drives that access such storage media, have become less expensive and their use is becoming widespread.
Meanwhile, a high-performance video apparatus, which is to replace an 8 mm video camera, has been developed which has high efficiency and a high degree of freedom in image editing when used with advanced information processing techniques and can respond to various demands in practical use. Such high-performance video apparatus are known as digital moving picture cameras.
FIGS. 12 and 13 show the structure of a conventional video apparatus. The output of image pick-up unit 101 (e.g., a CCD) is connected to the input of image processing converter 102. The image processing converter 102, display 103, command unit 104, recording unit 105, and main memory 106 are connected to the bus terminal of processor 108 through common bus 107. In order to simplify the explanation, it is presumed that the recording unit 105 is an IDE-type drive unit. The command unit 104 has a recording button 104a provided on the L-shaped cylindrical case of the video apparatus. The image pick-up unit 101 is provided on the tip of the L-shaped cylindrical case.
Some of the processes performed by the video apparatus are described hereafter, referring to FIG. 14. In the video apparatus with this structure, the processor 108 monitors the contact state of the recording button 104a. When the contact of the recording button 104a is closed (Yes in steps S9 and S10), then image pick-up unit 101 is driven through image processing converter 102 (step S11). The image given by the image pick-up unit 101 is read (step S12) and is recorded as a file in the storage medium (hereinafter it is assumed that a MO disk is used as the storage medium) attached to the recording unit 105, under the prescribed area management (step S13). In this context, a command given in the closed state of the contact of the recording button 104a is referred to as a “picture recording command.” The process of reading the image information given by the image pick-up unit 101 in response to the command and recording it on the storage medium is referred to as a “picture recording process.”
When the processor 108 receives a command to display an image (NO in step S10 and YES in step S8) represented by desired image information among the image information recorded on the storage medium (hereinafter simply referred to as a “display command”, which includes an identifier of the file in which the desired image information is stored) through the command unit 104, the processor 108 stores the contents of the file in a predetermined storage area in the main memory 106. The processor 108 creates thumbnail information indicating single or plural thumbnails by analyzing the contents of the memory area based on the format of the image information (step S4) and supplies the thumbnail information to the display 103 (step S5). Then, the one or more thumbnails are displayed on the display screen of the display 103.
When the processor 108 receives an image editing command (simply referred to as “editing command”) (NO in step S8, YES in step S7), it applies an editing process corresponding to the command to the image information stored in the storage area (step S6).
If the number of thumbnails which are to be displayed is too many to display on a single screen, then icons used for a page feed command or scroll command are displayed on the screen together with the thumbnails. FIGS. 15-17 illustrate possible examples of display screens and icons that could be displayed to facilitate review of many thumbnails. FIGS. 15-17 are examples and do not represent, to the present inventors' belief, prior art.
In the conventional technique described above, the thumbnail creation process does not begin until a display command or an editing command is received with regard to the file in which the image information for use in the thumbnail creation process is stored. Additionally, the thumbnail creation process is applied to all the contents in the file collectively. As the size of the (image information) file becomes large, the time taken for the thumbnail creating process becomes longer. This often causes the display process or editing process corresponding to the command to be suspended for a relatively long period of time (i.e., while the thumbnail creation process is being completed).
Furthermore, generally, the larger the size of the file, the greater the number of thumbnails, which then requires the user to search through many thumbnails in order to locate a desired frame among the thumbnails.